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F1 2012 is the biggest waste of money.

I'm trying to get a refund but Valve's CS sucks.

I don't get how it was launched so broken, there is so much understeer I struggle to get round some corners and the car doesn't seem to matter.They've taken out the old fuel and tyre simulation options from 2011 which I loved, sometimes you just want to play with them on or off but now you have no choice and the tyres don't seem to wear like they did before. I hate how the FP setup has gone in favour of just one FP now...... like how is that like F1? I can understand this for short weekend, why don't we even have the option for a full weekend now? Podiums still aren't in, safety cares still never come out from crashes, half the time the A.I magically makes it back on the track within a second and vanishes by the next lap. They've gotten rid of the whole paddock thing and just have boring menus now, like the change with Dirt 2 to 3. You cannot even tell your team when you want to pit which is something that left with 2011 and I don't know why, the team just sticks me on a strategy. It never changes if rain comes down, I'm just meant to magically pit, surely they're meant to give me options like real F1.

There are so many game breaking bugs it's crazy! My engine blows at the end of every race and normally after I use a flashback too. My engine normally just loses all power mid race and I cannot do anything. I play on automatic so it isn't my gear changes and no other F1 game had this problem before, the game doesn't even acknowledge anything has happened so I have no options. Then there's the one where it rains every race, even in Bahrain it started chucking it down, sometimes it can be bright sunny and all of a sudden dark clouds lol. It's really hard to judge which tyre you should be on too, in real F1 it'll be even slightly raining and you have to come in, in F1 2012 you have to wait till you see rivers to even come on inters and it's so hard to see when to go back onto dry.

Then there is the poor A.I which I can be going a second slower a lap and still end up in 2nd. I don't get why they seem to be a faster pace than me and yet they slowly drift backwards. It seems like it's trying to dumb the A.I down to try and give you a chance to win. I mean in the first lap Alone I can go from last to 10th even on hardest settings, they're just so dumb.

You don't even want to try online, their servers have such connection issues trying coop with a friend was us getting booted all the time coupled with none of us finishing a race because our engines kept failing lol. The penalty system is so bad for online multiplayer that people crash into you and you get a penalty for it lol.

Such a bad game I warn you to stay away, I hope codemasters loses the license. I bet Valve wont even give me the refund, if they don't then Steam can fuck off too.

The demo didn't really let you race for long, but yeah, should have been enough to pick up the new handling.

But it's funny, I've just finished my first race, Australia, 58 laps, with a Toro Rosso. I won, but I was purposefully racing on "intermediate" difficulty just to get used to all the changes. And I did enjoy myself.

To comment on your points: understeer is indeed the greatest change. You didn't mention which controller you're using, from what I hear people on gamepads are struggling a lot. But the understeering is mostly a matter of learning. I have never driven a real racing car, but I do think it sort of makes sense that you really need to brake a lot before the turn to prevent understeering. In previous games it was more or less easy to correct braking and turning mistakes, now not so much - if you miss the braking point you will end up outside the track. And I don't think that's a bad change, once you get used to it, it's really satisfying to string a few good turns together.

The removal of the two free practices bothers me more in principle than in practice - it's bad when you have to learn a track, but if you already know it, then it's not much of an issue.

I also don't mind the removal of the tyre and fuel simulation toggle. If you race short races, then it shouldn't matter. If you race longer ones, turning them off just makes the races more boring. As for the tyres, I think that just reflects changes made in the actual compounds this year - tyres don't wear out too quickly, but when they do, it really feels like they've turned to soap - the couple of laps before pitstops are really tense.

Podiums, safety car, I agree with you. There are still not enough incidents (no yellow flags at all in my full race), and cars are still just too tough regarding damage. And the "life" outside the race is even more boring, I agree. I can't really comment on the AI since I chose an easy race, but at least they seem to be much better regarding blue flags now.

There is an option to adjust race strategy before the race - just turn right from the monitor. In race, I think it works just like it used to - if you want to pit earlier or later, just head to the pits when you want to - I think the team will be automagically set if you enter the pit lane (just make sure your team mate isn't there).

The engine blowing up bug is indeed very annoying - the workaround is to disable car damage, but yeah, I hope they patch that - but given Codemasters' famous reluctance to patch, that remains to be seen. My weekend in Australia was completely dry, so I can't confirm your complaint that it always rains.

So while I feel that the game is on the whole more or less a cosmetic upgrade over 2011 (it does look and sound much better, and runs better on my machine than 2011 did), and it irks me a bit that I paid full price for it, I do enjoy the new handling model. That, and the fact that it finally doesn't have GFWL means I'll stick with 2012.

I hope you get your refund, but I think Steam tends to be pretty miserly regarding those.

Have you contacted Codemasters about your problems and possible refund? None of these problems sound like Steam's fault and I don't think they should be the source of your wrath. They are not likely to offer you a refund because these are not issues caused by them. Surely Codemasters has a customer support line for you contact.

I haven't played the game or the series, so I'm afraid I can't comment on your problems. Best of luck.

Have you contacted Codemasters about your problems and possible refund? None of these problems sound like Steam's fault and I don't think they should be the source of your wrath. They are not likely to offer you a refund because these are not issues caused by them. Surely Codemasters has a customer support line for you contact.

I haven't played the game or the series, so I'm afraid I can't comment on your problems. Best of luck.

In the UK at least, it is the stores responsibility to resolve issues with products that have unsatisfactory quality, as your agreement is with them, not the manufacturer. Not sure about other countries. A quick look on Google for the US rules was hopeless, whereas I was able to confirm the UK's position in the first result. Funny that.

The demo didn't really let you race for long, but yeah, should have been enough to pick up the new handling.

But it's funny, I've just finished my first race, Australia, 58 laps, with a Toro Rosso. I won, but I was purposefully racing on "intermediate" difficulty just to get used to all the changes. And I did enjoy myself.

To comment on your points: understeer is indeed the greatest change. You didn't mention which controller you're using, from what I hear people on gamepads are struggling a lot. But the understeering is mostly a matter of learning. I have never driven a real racing car, but I do think it sort of makes sense that you really need to brake a lot before the turn to prevent understeering. In previous games it was more or less easy to correct braking and turning mistakes, now not so much - if you miss the braking point you will end up outside the track. And I don't think that's a bad change, once you get used to it, it's really satisfying to string a few good turns together.

The removal of the two free practices bothers me more in principle than in practice - it's bad when you have to learn a track, but if you already know it, then it's not much of an issue.

I also don't mind the removal of the tyre and fuel simulation toggle. If you race short races, then it shouldn't matter. If you race longer ones, turning them off just makes the races more boring. As for the tyres, I think that just reflects changes made in the actual compounds this year - tyres don't wear out too quickly, but when they do, it really feels like they've turned to soap - the couple of laps before pitstops are really tense.

Podiums, safety car, I agree with you. There are still not enough incidents (no yellow flags at all in my full race), and cars are still just too tough regarding damage. And the "life" outside the race is even more boring, I agree. I can't really comment on the AI since I chose an easy race, but at least they seem to be much better regarding blue flags now.

There is an option to adjust race strategy before the race - just turn right from the monitor. In race, I think it works just like it used to - if you want to pit earlier or later, just head to the pits when you want to - I think the team will be automagically set if you enter the pit lane (just make sure your team mate isn't there).

The engine blowing up bug is indeed very annoying - the workaround is to disable car damage, but yeah, I hope they patch that - but given Codemasters' famous reluctance to patch, that remains to be seen. My weekend in Australia was completely dry, so I can't confirm your complaint that it always rains.

So while I feel that the game is on the whole more or less a cosmetic upgrade over 2011 (it does look and sound much better, and runs better on my machine than 2011 did), and it irks me a bit that I paid full price for it, I do enjoy the new handling model. That, and the fact that it finally doesn't have GFWL means I'll stick with 2012.

I hope you get your refund, but I think Steam tends to be pretty miserly regarding those.

Couldnt have said it better myself - the frustration with understeer is massive but as i have kept practising it has improved., what do others think of the new US circuit?

Are you using the same setups from F1 2011? I would say don't because I noticed the description for certain things (roll bars off the top of my head) have changed.

First off I'm using a 360 pad. I can say that the steering has changed. To me it feels like you're driving a proper car as apposed to a nose cone that you point in a certain direction and squirt the throttle.

This of course is only my opinion and everyone has their own driving style.

One down side I've noticed is that even on the highest difficulty the AI brake too early for tight corners. I can go sailing past in a braking zone and still make the corner comfortably.

Originally Posted by christ87

Couldnt have said it better myself - the frustration with understeer is massive but as i have kept practising it has improved., what do others think of the new US circuit?

The new circuit is very much like all other Tilke tracks; long straight and a twisty middle sector. I like the hairpin turn 1 which is uphill and the braking point is on the crest. That may cause a few accidents ; )

After my disappointment with F1 2010 I've not bought any of the later installments, but I've seen some of the footage of the game on the Circuit of the Americas. It has sadly confirmed my fear that it's yet another circuit with way too many unmemorable 2nd gear corners (the turn 12-15 bit especially). I also don't like the way the Americans seemingly tried to recreate the Hungaroring with that enourmous amount of corners between turn 3 and 11, and the very long straight that follows that twisty section seems a carbon copy of the straights in South Korea or China i.e. it's way too long. They also seemed to have wanted to recreate the somewhat famous turn 8 at Istanbul here at corners 16-18, but whether or not it turns out to be as interesting remains very much to be seen.

I hope the actual track with actual cars prove me wrong, but I'm not convinced this track is anything special just yet.

"He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to
the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free". ~ Luke 4:18

I just don't trust Codemasters. They lied for years about how their rally vehicle handling was fully simulated and not a center-pivot model (either that, or they're incompetent). Once in a blue moon they'll publish a gem like Perimeter or SHOWW2, but otherwise they're strictly bargin bin for me.

I hate how they've gone back to 2010 where your car spins all the frigging time without any feedback or time to save. In 2011 if it happened you could save it, the game gave you the feedback.

Anyways I'm playing 2011 now, much better.

I don't see how it's more realistic because in F1 when they have over or understeer they complain and get the car sorted. F1 cars are basically glued to the track now with so much downforce and they aren't sliding all over the place or struggling to make corners unless they have an issue with their setup or damage. Also the best cars are taking corners flat out, no having to lift like you do in 2012.

Bumping this just to give Codemasters their due, in the 3 weeks since release they've already produced 4 patches for the PC version of the game, fixing most of the issues discussed here and elsewhere (and creating a few new ones, but, well). I guess the move away from GFWL really helped in this regard - I don't think the console versions have had a single patch yet.

I got burned twice by Codemasters in quick succession, once for OFP:DR and once for F1-2010. Now F1-2010 wasn't absolutely terrible, but it wasn't great. Whereas OFP:DR just anashamedly lied about itself in practically all the press build up.

Regarding F1-2010 though, there was clear CLEAR rubber banding which the dev team strenuously tried to deny against all the evidence. I remember one quote by a dev on their forum saying "There is no rubber banding, if a driver is behind however he will try harder to catch up and perhaps improve his times." (I'm paraphrasing) which could also be said of Mario Kart. "There is no rubber banding in Mario Kart! However if Donkey Kong is last he just tries harder and speeds up." hilarious.

Anyway I did quite enjoy it online. What I've wanted for ages is a sim with the handling of a super realistic racer in the GTR/RFactor mould, but without all the tedious setup which I don't really understand.

Anyone who's played netKar Pro recommends netKar Pro. Anyone who's played netKar Pro and iRacing still recommends netKar Pro. The fidelity with which the suspension components are modelled and the corresponding feedback through the wheel is astonishing.

Bad Guy, if you're a race sim person then head over to the unofficial RPS racing group's steam page, Race, Petrol, Skid, and post what racing games you've got in the thread. There's only two of us (Vorrin and I) with netKar Pro at the moment, but hopefully more will appear.

Look me up on Steam or send me a forum post when you've got it, Meltdown.

It really is superb - unfortunately the development was so stop-start, ill-communicated and ill-publicised that it was a bit of a mess and it never really caught on the way it deserved, but for me there's nothing else that manages to give you so much accurate information about what the tyres and suspension are doing through the FFB, and for someone who isn't a racing driver I think that's the only measure of realism I can be comfortable claiming for it.